Finally Fitting In.

Oh we are finally into the meat of our classes! It is finally the time that I can get to work and learn so much from this place. I've been ready for this for so long and now its finally here! The work I did in high school has really paid off this first semester for sure. I feel very ahead of the game in most of my classes aside from Diction for Singers. But I really do feel like this is what I need to do with my life. This is the work that I am passionate about and enjoy doing.
Today in theory we went over how to transpose music. Our teacher, who I am not all the impressed with, is making us (Us as in them because I learned a MUCH easier way.) count intervals to transpose. It sounds like that is easy but how easy is it really if people don't even understand the construction of a major scale? No!! It makes NO sense to count intervals if you don't even understand how scales work. So I raised my hand after people struggled with trying to realize that concept and said, "Can't we do this by solfege? Everyone in here understands solfege and not the construction of scales." Then without being told, I ran up to the board and notated both. I have been so frustrated with how he teaches and how he NEVER explains anything in a simple way. If I had not taken theory before, I would be so frustrated and mad!! Im paying you tuition to take your class and to learn and understand. That goes both ways, and I feel like he's not holding up the other end of the deal. Anyways, at the end of class some people said they really appreciated what I said and that it helped them out a lot to think about it in that way. I also got two peoples numbers so that they could call me if they needed help. That at least means I understand it, right? I am counting down the days until I can take the "Test Out Exam" and get out of that terribly terrible class. I just pray that those kids will figure it out on there own or that Bro. May becomes an easier teacher to understand.
BoM is going well as is both of my choir classes and I'm excited for the progress I have made already from that class. I love both of these teachers and really enjoy going to there classes.
Tonight I had my first group vocal lesson with Sis. Ashby and also my first master class for vocal methods. This is all apart of the Music 155 class. There are four parts to this class; 1. Monday Master Classes which is basically a chance to perform in front of your classmates to be critiqued. 2. Wednesday, which is a vocal anatomy class. 3. Group lessons. These happen every other week with a group of three and one faculty member. 4. Individual vocal lessons which happen once a week for a half hour. Today was my first group lesson which was fun I suppose. I met some friends in my major (Finally!!) and worked on forming vowels.  We also worked on expanding our diaphragm as we sing. I apparently have a big issue with this and this is mostly from my TERRIBLE posture. It's frustrating to have to spend so much time getting my body in place so that I sing correctly. I am going to guess that 94% of the time that I sang in high school and the past was incorrect. It's beyond frustrating for me. But I knew when I got here that that would be something I really struggled with fixing and I hope that as the semester continues and I work more diligently on it, I will get better. We also had master class for the first time and today because no one was prepared to sing a solo, we each sang a verse from our favorite hymn. I picked hymn #100 because I mostly like how it resonates for my voice. I went first so that I could just prove my worth. This is kinda a side note, but since being here, I have been very compelled to prove that I deserve to be here. So I felt like I just needed to get up there and sing! So I went first said my name and where I was from (Which BTW, everyone like freaks out about where I live. I never knew Walla Walla was so foreign to people.) and then I sang! And boy did it feel good to be praised! Everyone shared with me how much they loved my voice and one boy in the class even asked if we could sing a duet in church. It feels so good to be praised. Twenty people went after me and I don't want to be vain, but I think I am sitting in a good place right now. It just feels good to finally feel like I belong here.
It's been a long day. We stayed up WAYYYYY too late last night talking and bonding with my wonderful room mates and so today has been insanely hard. I'm ready to take a nap and sleep tonight for sure!
Happy singing!!
Love, Courtney Griggs